The present invention relates to the inspection of parts and, more particularly, to the non-destructive inspection of parts.
A fundamental step in the structural validation of parts, in particular assembled composite parts, is a thorough non-destructive inspection (NDI) of the part. The NDI inspection of composite parts occurs as one of the last steps in the production of a composite part. In many cases, in a production environment, NDI information identifying a deficiency may not be related back to the manufacturer of the components of the composite part or the crew assembling the part in time to correct the same deficiency in follow-on parts. Often, a relatively minor change in the components or techniques used to build a composite part can result in a positive NDI result, provided the change information is made available in a timely manner to the crew building the composite part.
In the past, the proprietary nature of various commercially available inspection systems that employ NDI techniques, e.g., Through Transmission Ultrasonic (TTU), Bond Tester, and Pulse Echo, has restricted efforts to rapidly or efficiently communicate NDI results to a crew building a composite part or a manufacturer of a defective component. In this regard, composite part manufacturers and NDI machines often employ incompatible computer systems. Such incompatible computer systems often require extensive software modifications in order for a manufacturer""s computer system to exchange data with an NDI computer system and vice versa. As a result, in the past composite part manufacturers have often produced several parts requiring exactly the same rework before NDI information regarding the deficiency is provided to the manufacturer of composite part components or a crew assembling a composite part.
Prior efforts at sharing NDI results, with a crew building composite parts, have included the following: (1) the creation of a story board with hard copy prints of ultrasonic scan images of the parts; (2) weekly status reports summarizing percentages of first time ultrasonic scan discrepancies; and (3) crew meetings with the results of the ultrasonic scans read aloud to the crew and/or the information placed on a viewfoil and displayed using an overhead projector. Because ultrasonic scan results have been manually gathered, a significant lag time has occurred between the preparation and presentation of NDI results to the crew building the composite parts.
Since the assembly of composite parts is usually a sequential process, a deficiency identified by a NDI will continue to occur until the NDI results are presented to the crew assembling the composite parts, and corrective action is implemented. Although in the past NDI results eventually have been provided to the crew needing the information, a good deal of waste, rework, and possibly scrap has been incurred before the information is utilized. In the past, no adequate system for quickly and efficiently feeding back pertinent NDI results from the most recent builds of a composite part to the crew manufacturing the part has been available. Further, no adequate system for allowing an ultrasonic scan image to be accessed by the crew without a significant lag time to allow for the collection, preparation, and presentation of the image has been available. The present invention addresses the need for a method and a system that provides to a crew assembling composite parts timely feedback of the results of an NDI of previously assembled parts, so that changes necessary to correct a deficiency may be promptly performed on follow-on composite parts.
In accordance with this invention a computer-implementable method of rapidly and quickly providing NDI information to a crew building parts, particularly composite parts, hereinafter referred to as a Quality Tracking System, or QTS, is provided. The method comprises: gathering NDI information about the parts as they are manufactured; gathering other information, including repair information, about parts from manufacturing personnel; linking the NDI information to the other information; storing the linked NDI and other information in a database; and, upon user request, selectively deriving information about the parts from the information stored in the database; and displaying reports based on the derived information.
In accordance with other aspects of this invention, the gathering of NDI information comprises ultrasonically scanning the parts as they are manufactured in order to identify defects in the parts.
In accordance with further aspects of this invention, gathering other information, including repair information, about the parts includes providing an input window for manufacturing personnel to enter information regarding the identity of parts, defects in parts, and the repair of defects in the parts.
In accordance with yet other aspects of this invention, the computer-implementable method comprises collating the NDI and other information gathered about parts, including defects in the parts, based on user-initiated queries, and displaying the results of such collation.
In accordance with yet still further aspects of this invention, the results of the collation are displayed in tabular form.
In accordance with yet other aspects of this invention, the NDI and other information gathered about parts is used to produce graphs and other statistical data showing trends and other information about the parts.
As will be readily appreciated from the foregoing description, the invention provides a computer-implementable method of rapidly and quickly gathering NDI and other information about parts, particularly composite parts, as they are manufactured and providing the information to manufacturing and other personnel. Because defect and repair information is gathered on parts as they are manufactured, manufacturing process steps can be modified in real time in order to avoid or eliminate defects in subsequent composite parts as they are manufactured.